With the increasing popularity of wide area networks (WANs), such as the Internet and/or the World Wide Web, network growth and traffic has exploded in recent years. Network users continue to demand faster networks and more access for both businesses and consumers. As network demands continue to increase, existing network infrastructures and technologies are reaching their limits.
An alternative to present day hardwired or fiber network solutions is the use of wireless optical communications. Wireless optical communications utilize point-to-point communications through free space and therefore do not require the routing of cables or fibers between locations. Thus, wireless optical communications are also known as free space or atmospheric optical communications. For instance, in a free space optical communication system, a beam of light is directed through free space from a transmitter at a first location to a receiver at a second location. Data or information is encoded into the beam of light, and therefore, the information is transmitted through free space from the first location to the second location.
Point-to-point free space optical communication systems require one optical transmitter for each optical receiver. The optical transmitter transmits an optical signal beam from its point of origin to a single point destination where an optical receiver is positioned. The transmitters of these point-to-point systems are called Single Axis Transmitters (“SAT”). Each SAT requires its own light source, such as a laser, for generating the light beam and its own optical system, such as a telescope, for focusing and aiming the light beam at the target receiver. The telescope is usually gimbal-mounted for pointing and tracking the optical receiver.
It is common to find a central hub location servicing multiple customer locations. For example, a hub location could be the location of a hardwired and/or fiber network Internet gateway. The customer locations can be dispersed about the hub location with varying distances and angular directions. Thus, each customer location requires an optical receiver or customer premise equipment (“CPE”) and a corresponding SAT to transmit to each CPE.
Present devices use multiple axis transceivers (“MATs”) for servicing multiple CPEs. A MAT is simply an array of SATs mounted on a single frame. Each SAT is gimbal-mounted within the MAT frame and requires an independent laser source and telescope. The duplicative electronics, mechanical apparatus, and optical elements found in the MATs can be costly, cumbersome, difficult to maintain, difficult to align, and heavy.